Fuel Modifier

ABSTRACT

The object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of combustion of fuel and to reduce toxic components contained in the combustion gas. To attain the object in the present invention, an iron salt is added in fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, light oil, heavy oil and the like as a fuel modifier

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a fuel modifier.

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED

[0002] Problems to be solved are improving combustion efficiency andreducing production of carbon monoxide CO and NOX.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention provides a fuel modifier comprising an ironsalt as a means to solve said problems. Generally, said fuel modifier isprovided by adding and mixing an alcohol solution of said iron salt to amineral oil. Said iron salt is ferric-ferrous iron salt and/or ferrousiron salt and/or ferric iron salt.

PRECISE DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The fuel modifier of the present invention comprisesferric-ferrous iron salt and/or ferrous iron salt and/or ferric ironsalt.

[0005] [Ferrous Iron Salts, Ferric Iron Salts]

[0006] Ferrous iron salts and/or ferric iron salts used as the fuelmodifier in this invention include inorganic acid salts such ashydrochloride, sulfate, nitrate, phosphate and the like, organic acidsalts such as acetate, formate, oxalate, citrate and the like, mixturesthereof. Two or more kinds of ferrous iron salts and/or ferric ironsalts may be used together.

[0007] [Ferric-Ferrous Iron Salts]

[0008] Ferric-ferrous iron salt of the present invention is iron salthaving properties between ferrous iron salt and ferric iron salt andsaid iron salt is such as inorganic acid salts (e.g. hydrochloride,sulfate, phosphate, nitrate and the like), organic acid salts (e.g.formate, acetate, propionate and the like). Said ferric-ferrous ironsalt is prepared by putting ferric iron salt in a large quantity ofstrong alkaline aqueous solution such as sodium hydroxide, potassiumhydroxide, lithium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide and the like to causevalence conversion from ferric iron to ferrous iron or putting ferrousiron salt in a large quantity of strong acid aqueous solution such ashydrochloride acid, sulfuric acid and the like to cause valanceconversion from ferrous iron to ferric iron and said ferric-ferrous ironsalt is obtained as transition form during said valence conversion.Concrete illustrations of methods of production of said ferric-ferrousiron salt are shown hereafter.

[0009] Commonly, two methods described below are applied to prepare saidferric-ferrous iron salt.

[0010] 1. Method 1 (Preparation from Ferric Iron Salt)

[0011] Ferric chloride (FeCl₃·6H₂O), 1.0 mg was dissolved in 100 ml of0.5 N sodium hydroxide aqueous solution and stirred, then the solutionwas allowed to stand for overnight. After filtering out some insolubleproducts in the solution, the solution was neutralized with hydrochloricacid then concentrated in a reduced pressure desiccator to get a driedand crystallized product. Thus the crystallized product with sodiumchloride, that is, chloride of ferric-ferrous iron (hereinaftersometimes referred to as iron chloride (II, III)), was prepared.

[0012] In case of extracting iron chloride (II, III) from thecrystallized product with sodium chloride, the product was dissolved in50 ml of 80% by weight isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution to elute ironchloride (II, III). After separating the solution containing eluted ironchloride (II, III), the solution was concentrated at reduced pressure inorder to remove the solvent and dry. Then the procedure consisting ofelution, concentration and dry was repeated a few times. Thus ironchloride (II, III), 0.25 mg was extracted from the crystallized productwith sodium chloride.

[0013] 2. Method 2 (Preparation from Ferrous Iron Salt)

[0014] Ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄·7H₂O), 1.0 mg was dissolved in 100 ml of0.5 N HCl aqueous solution and stirred, then the solution was allowed tostand for overnight. After filtering out some insoluble products in thesolution, the solution was concentrated in a reduced pressure desiccatorto get a dried product. The dried product in powder was dissolved in 10ml of 80% by weight isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution to elute ironchloride (II, III). After separating the solution containing eluted ironchloride (II, III), the solution was concentrated at reduced pressure inorder to remove the solvent and dry. Then the procedure consisting ofelution, concentration and dry was repeated a few times. Thus ironchloride (II, III), 0.6 mg was extracted from the crystallized productwith sodium chloride.

[0015] Ferric-ferrous iron salts in this invention may include othercompounds such as inorganic compounds (e.g. sodium chloride, sodiumsulfate, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, zinc chloride, zincsulfate, zinc oxide, zinc hydroxide, zinc acetate, diatomite, bentonite,silica, alumina and the like), organic compounds (e.g. vitamin, hormone,protein, lipid and the like). In the case of using the ferric-ferrousiron salt including other compound, its ability is not changed.

[0016] [Preparation of the Fuel Modifier]

[0017] To prepare said fuel modifier of the present invention, saidferric-ferrous iron salt and/or ferrous iron salt and/or ferric ironsalt is(are) dissolved in an alcohol such as ethyl alcohol, isopropylalcohol, normal butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, tertiary butyl alcohol,and the like, or solvent mixture of said alcohol(s) and water and thensaid solution is added to mix to a petroleum solvent such as gasoline,kerosene, light oil and the like. Generally, the resulting fuel modifierof the present invention contains 1 to 5 ppm of ferric-ferrous iron saltand/or ferrous iron salt and/or ferric iron salt.

[0018] [Fuel Modification]

[0019] Generally, about 0.1 to 1.0 ml of said fuel modifier of thepresent invention is added to 1000 ml of the fuel such as gasoline,kerosene, light oil, heavy oil and the like. In said fuel modifiermodified by said fuel modifier, the combustion efficiency is improvedand production of toxic substance such as CO, NOX and the like aresuppressed.

[0020] [Effect of the Invention]

[0021] In said fuel modified by said fuel modifier, the combustionefficiency is improved and when said fuel is used as fuel of the car,the efficiency of fuel consumption is much improved and content of toxicsubstance such as CO, NOX and the like in exhaust gas is much reduced.

EXAMPLE 1

[0022] Ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄·6H₂O), 1 g was dissolved in 5 ml of 12 NHCl aqueous solution and stirred. Then the solution was filtered byfilter paper (No. 5C) to remove some insoluble products. A portion ofthe filtered solution for sampling was concentrated in a reducedpressure desiccator to get a dried product. The dried product in powderwas dissolved in 80% by weight isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution. Thenthe solution containing eluted component was concentrated at reducedpressure in order to remove the solvent and dry. In addition, theprocedure consisting of elution, concentration and dry was repeated afew times. Thus crystallized product was prepared.

[0023] 5% by weight aqueous solution of the crystallized product, 0.01ml was spotted on a point from 3 cm of the bottom of paperchromatography (PC) filter paper (2 cm×40 cm), then was developed byn-butyl alcohol:acetic acid:H₂O (5:1:4, v/v/v) as developing solvent for15 hours. After developing the filter paper was dried out then coloredby spray of 1% by weight potassium ferricyanide aqueous solution ascoloring reagent. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed pointof the crystallized product was one spot (Rf=0.07).

[0024] In addition, a mixture of FeCl₂ and FeCl₃ was spotted on a paperchromatography (PC) filter paper as the same way. As a result, it wasconfirmed that there were two developed points (FeCl₂, Rf=0.095, FeCl₃,Rf=0.36) on the filter paper. These paper chromatography (PC) testsmentioned above accounted for the crystallized product as homogeneousproduct not mixtures.

[0025] Further, a sample solution, 100 ml was prepared by means ofdissolving the crystallized product in distilled water. The samplesolution (2.5 ml), 0.1% by weight orthophenanthroline aqueous solution(2.5 ml), and sodium acetate-acetic acid buffer solution, pH=4.5, (25ml) were put into a mess-flask then distilled water was put into themess-flask until its marked line. After being allowed to stand for 30minutes at room temperature, an absorbance (510 nm) of the solution wasmeasured. Ferrous iron in the sample solution was 0.019 g/100 mlcalculated from standard curve, obtained by FeCl₂ solution in the sameway.

[0026] Moreover, in the case of putting sample solution into themess-flask, then hydroxyl mine hydrochloride aqueous solution, 1.0 mlwas added to the mess-flask beforehand in order to reduce ferric iron inthe sample solution to ferrous iron. As a result, ferrous iron, 0.038g/100 ml was gotten. It was confirmed that the crystallized productconsisted of ferrous iron and ferric iron equivalently because ofcalculation of ferric iron, 0.019 g/100 ml (=0.038 g/100 ml−0.019 g/100ml). From consideration of the above-mentioned test, it was concludedthat the crystallized product would be Fe₂Cl₅·xH₂O.

EXAMPLE 2

[0027] (Preparation of Ferrous-Ferric Iron Salt)

[0028] Ferric chloride (1.0 mg) was dissolved in 5 ml of 10 N sodiumhydroxide aqueous solution and stirred. After stirring, the solution wasneutralized with 10 N hydrochloric acid, then was filtered by a filterpaper (No. 5C) to remove some insoluble products. A portion of thefiltered solution for sampling was concentrated in a reduced pressuredesiccator to get a dried product. The dried product in powder wasdissolved in 80% by weight isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution. Then thesolution containing eluted component was concentrated at reducedpressure in order to remove the solvent and dry. In addition, theprocedure consisting of elution, concentration and dry was repeated afew times. Thus the crystallized product was prepared. The crystallizedproduct in this example was tested by the same way as Example 1mentioned above. Thus, it was concluded that the crystallized productwould be Fe₂Cl₅·xH₂O.

EXAMPLE 3

[0029] 2 g of ferric-ferrous iron salt prepared in Example 1 wasdissolved in 100 ml of a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (80:20weight ratio) and the resulting solution was then added and mixed inkerosene to prepare a fuel modifier No. 1 containing 2 ppm of saidferric-ferrous iron salt.

EXAMPLE 4

[0030] 2 g of ferric-ferrous iron salt prepared in Example 2 wasdissolved in 100 ml of a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (80:20weight ratio) and the resulting solution was then added and mixed inkerosene to prepare a fuel modifier No. 2 containing 2 ppm of saidferric-ferrous iron salt.

EXAMPLE 5

[0031] 5 g of ferric chloride (FeCl₃) anhydride was dissolved in 100 mlof a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (75:25 weight ratio) and theresulting solution was then added and mixed in kerosene to prepare afuel modifier No. 3 containing 3 ppm of ferric chloride.

EXAMPLE 6

[0032] 5 g of ferrous chloride (FeCl₂) anhydride was dissolved in 100 mlof a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (75:25 weight ratio) and theresulting solution was then added and mixed in kerosene to prepare afuel modifier No. 4 containing 3 ppm of ferrous chloride.

[0033] [Efficiency Test]

[0034] Said fuel modifiers No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 wererespectively added to 1000 ml of gasoline, adding amount of each fuelmodifiers being 0.5 ml and driving test using FORD EXPLORER was carriedout by using each gasoline modified by each fuel modifier. The resultsare shown in Table 1. TABLE 1 No Fuel Modifier Additive No.1 No.2 No.3No.4 Fuel consumption efficiency 9 10.4 10.4 10.0 10.2 km/l (10modetest)

[0035] Referring to Table 1, it is recognized that fuel consumptionefficiency is improved to more than 15%.

[0036] The results of the analysis of components contained in theexhaust gas during driving test are shown in Table 2. TABLE 2 HC CO CO₂NOX CH₄ N-CH₄ Fuel Modifier No.1 0.019 0.312 499 0.068 0.011 0.008 FuelModifier No.2 0.018 0.310 498 0.065 0.010 0.008 Fuel Modifier No.3 0.0200.315 499 0.070 0.012 0.010 Fuel Modifier No.4 0.020 0.314 499 0.0680.011 0.009 No Additive 0.042 0.493 501 0.122 0.018 0.025

[0037] Referring to Table 2, it is recognized that HC and N—CH₄ contentsreduce to lower than 50%, CO and CH₄ contents reduce to about 60%, andCO₂ is also recognized to reduce a little. Further, comparing said fuelmodifiers No. 1 to No. 4, it is recognized that ferric-ferrous iron salthas a highest efficiency and then ferrous iron salt and then ferric ironsalt in sequence.

1. A fuel modifier comprising a ferric-ferrous iron salt
 2. (Canceled)3. (Canceled)
 4. (Canceled)
 5. (Amended) A fuel modifier in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said fuel modifier is prepared by adding andmixing an alcohol solution of said ferric-ferrous iron salt in a solventhaving compatibility with fuel.
 6. (Canceled)
 7. (Canceled) 8.(Canceled)
 9. A fuel modifier in accordance with claim 5, wherein saidsolvent is a petroleum solvent.